BinaryRhyme

... at least they came clean. They didn't mention parts availability as part of their ongoing support, so I suspect any repairs requiring Variax specific parts will be either "get the soldering iron out" or "buy another variax second hand and raid it for parts."

Corresponded and chatted on the phone with the Line 6 / Yamaha service prime at Long & McQuade, Oshawa. He contacted 3 of his possible supplier contacts and came up empty, with apologies. I'll try Yorkville.

Well, the 69 assembly is out of stock, too. ;)

Out of stock at Full Compass, I've corresponded with them and there are none to be had (and they are restricted from shipping outside the U.S., but there are ways around that). Have checked eBay, Kijiji, etc. Parts page on Line6 redirects to a 404. I'll open a ticket if the jack permanently fails, but its only an intermittent glitch atm. I'm not trying to solve my problem, specifically. A lack of parts in the future is everyone's problem.

I agree (although I do find the tones useful still), but I think it is pretty scuzzy to be stringing the customer base along implying the line has a future when there seems to be every intention to deep six it (I assume in deference to the Yamaha Pacifica line). A retrospective of YouTube has Line6 featuring the Helix/Variax integration as recently as 2021. Parts availability is my major concern at this point, since if my Cat5 connection to the Helix goes south, I've got an whole lot of preset mojo to re-work, and a fat lotta good all that fancy pants Helix / Variax integration does me. I can't find a jack assembly for the JTV 59 anywhere, nor can my tech, nor the authorized repair centre in Toronto. If anyone has a spare and wants to part with it - DM me. :)

Not entirely rumors. I've called Line6 and Yamaha Canada to ask directly where I can find Variax for sale in a store, and they couldn't tell me. No-one in my city stocks it. JTV replacement parts like the input jack assembly can't be found or ordered. They've effectively killed the product without announcing it.

Well, as always, it depends, but given the Helix incorporates the cab and mic colorations / models, my own practice is to run out of the helix to as flat and uncolored an amplification system as possible (I go direct into a mixer via XLR if possible), and then have a couple wee speakers on stands near my head fed from the 1/4 phono for monitoring, or use headphones if I'm in the pit (aka out of sight). While there will always be those who disagree, that's my take - and your FOH engineer will thank you. As a soundman as well as a player, I can tell you that the stereotype of guitar players running too hot on stage is mostly true, me included, so get those speakers as close to your ears as possible, so you have to blow your eardrums before you accomplish that, lol.

Lol. Be careful what you wish for, and thanks.

True, that. Yeh, my doc is more about the approach to calibration and how to measure it than any given leveling technique, so if you were tuning an impedance dependent (or any other) block on the input, you'd want to set the input to what works for the block, and adjust level on the output, amp, or wherever made sense. Good point.

I hear ya. Perhaps I've dodged the bullet more because I don't tend to use the fuzz distortions you speak of. Your word of caution is welcome. I'm curious - if the boost was done on the input as a dB adjustment vs. using the block, do you think the impedance issue would be avoided?

An excellent note. I haven't observed impedance issues because I bring the G70 in using XLR, but it's a germane concern for the 1/4 inch phono drivers. It might be best to keep the block active and just zero the level, rather than bypassing it, or perhaps the 'first active impedance' option in 3.0 globals might be helpful. Hasn't been the monkey on my back, though. Good catch.

Folks: I've been following Jason Sadites' recent gain staging tutorials, and thought I would take a structured approach to creating a reference preset that I can use to normalize other presets to, so that switching pickups / presets / snapshots doesn't result in wild (unintended) swings in gain, and that delivered a nice clean signal to my board with headroom for variation. I then wrote it up, so that my leaky memory might be refreshed at later dates, as need be. I've attached the writeup, which might be of interest to you if such things are on your mind. I highly recommend Jason's vid series. Mike Helix Configuration v01.pdf

To clarify, I recently ran a set of tests to understand the dynamic range of my Strat (HSS American Elite, run through a Helix test patch). Here are my tests on the basic input from the guitar to the Helix, metered by the X32. X32R (mixer) Helix input Channel Gain (on the X32r channel) +30 db Helix - volume at 12 oclock, mic level output Config 1 - No amp, cab or effects. Config 2 - HiWatt amp and cab Test 1 - single note riffs Test 2 - strummed 6 string A barre Strat Soft: Pos SS, Vol 7, Tone 6, 6 Strat Loud: H bypass SS C1 T1 (-45 to -35 db) SS C1 T2 (-32.5 db) H C1 T1 (-20db) H C1 T2 (-15db)

In my experience, as I've been the lollipop on the sound board wanting the guitarist to "turn it down" as well as the guy on stage wanting to "turn it up" - the primary issues revolve around tone, volume and perception. A sound guy on the board is trying to balance the mix, and while there are lots of things to think about, on-stage volume is usually the socially limiting issue, lol. Technically, from that perspective, it is the primary limitation to serving up a great FOH mix. (Balancing on-stage volume from amps and monitors vs a truly isolated house mix). From a guitar tone perspective, gain is important. It affects the effects and amp, and you want the amp to respond to nuance in your performance - you want "clean," "crunch," and "scream" as near at hand as possible - but sometimes those tones are background, sometimes they are foreground. That is where "perception" comes in. Sometimes you want to growl in the background. ... which really makes it obvious, if you think about it, that tone and volume should be independent. A screaming, dirty overdrive need not be loud, and a clean jazz tone need not be quiet. Hence my thinking on framing the references around four basic parameters (to start, at least) - input low (S - single coil), input high (H - humbucker) and output low (bg - background) and output high (l - lead).

I'm currently working on this issue myself, and as I am equal parts sound engineer and guitarist, I am thinking I will create a "reference" patch or two, based off the factory presets, specifically to be used as gain staging references. There are a lot of issues related to this - 1) input / pre-amp gain - I drive an HSS strat, and the input gain levels can really jump around, lol - but input gain drives tonal color and distortion from the amps. I'm thinking on the input side there might be an H and S standard reference input gain (on my strat, I get roughly a 30db difference from my fave clean / light setting to the "passing lane" which lets the shawbucker loose. It takes some managing, lol. I suspect on the output side, there are two references as well - background and lead. How loud should the ultimate output be for background playing and lead playing. Of course, db is always relative, so if you want to be precise, there should be a reference input audio as well - pink noise methinks. Just a quick thinky thinky. Let me know what your thoughts are.

I dropped a comment. Thanks for the link. :)

I don't suppose there is any way to assign the USB In 1/2 Trim to an expression controller? :)